Pyrotechnics
by Selene98
Summary: AU NaruHina. She was following around a stranger, and for what? A great view of the fireworks show? Or was it his charm that made her take his hand? Who knows? Slight Hinata OOC.


Pyrotechnics: A NaruHina fic

I do not own Naruto!

**Warning! **AU plot, somewhat OOC characters

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He didn't notice her until her until he had passed the bench three times. She was just sitting reading a book, not paying attention to the world around her. Each time he passed, she didn't even look up. It was well past midday, and the only possessions she had with her was the book sitting in her lap, and a small purse at her feet. So it was only natural that he, Naruto Uzamaki, would find it fitting to talk to a total stranger about her choice of pastimes.

Naruto walked up to the bench where she was sitting, and nonchalantly sat down beside her. She looked up from the book she was reading, a slight blush forming on her face. He smiled brightly, and her face reddened even more.

"O-oh. Umm, w-who are you?" He leaned over to look at her book before replying.

"I'm Naruto. But the important question is, who are you?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"I-I'm Hinata." She stuttered out, not looking directly at Naruto. He grinned widely, and made himself comfortable on the bench beside her.

"So Hinata, what are you doing sitting all alone on a beautiful day like this? You do know that there's a festival going on just down the street, don't you?" Hinata closed her book and let out a sigh.

"W-well, I didn't really want to go to the festival. A-and besides, I'm saving my spot for the f-fireworks show." Naruto looked even more excited at the mention of fireworks, and leaned in closer, so that his nose was almost touching Hinata's.

"You like fireworks?" His eyes were wide, and he looked just like a boy in a candy store. His closeness made Hinata uncomfortable, and she could only nod as her blush deepened to an almost crimson shade.

"So you're going to wait all day on this bench to watch the show tonight?" He leaned back slightly, but was still inside her personal bubble.

"Y-yes. T-this is a good spot, and it's n-normally taken by the time I get here. S-so I'm staying here all day." Naruto contemplated her words while Hinata scooted away from the boisterous blond. She was now at the end of the bench, with less than a foot between herself and Naruto. With a sudden jump, Naruto was now standing in front of Hinata.

"What if I told you that I could take you to the best place to view the fireworks. Would you come with me?" Hinata looked up at Naruto, unsure of how to respond. Although she had just met him, Hinata felt she could trust Naruto. On the other hand, there were a lot of creeps in the world who seemed like nice, honest people.

Naruto held out his hand for Hinata to take. She gazed at it. Should she go with a total stranger to a place that could possibly be dangerous, just for a great view of a fireworks show? Hinata bit her lip, and tentatively put her hand in his. He pulled her up from the bench, and Hinata barely had a chance to grab her book and purse before he began to drag her away at an ungodly speed to who knows where. In the back of her mind, Hinata was still worried, but she quickly put aside her anxieties. After all, she did have a large quantity of pepper spray in her purse, if worse came to worse.

Naruto led the lavender haired beauty towards the festival, but only skimmed the outskirts of the area. He took the paths that were less crowded, and before she knew it, the loud noise of the celebration was nothing but a soft murmur far behind them. The two walked down a sidewalk that led around a nearby lake. In the distance, Hinata could see a large blocked off parking lot. She couldn't tell what was there, but she knew it wasn't cars. There were several guards around the perimeter of the parking lot, and there seemed to be only one way in or out of it.

Naruto brought her right up to the entrance, where a man stood. He bounced up cheerily to the guard. He pulled something out of his pocket, and showed it to the guard.

"Hey! I'm bringing in a guest! She's gonna need a clearance pass, right?" The guard nodded, and pulled out a walkie-talkie.

"Uzamaki is back, and he's brought someone too. She's going to need a clearance pass." A voice responded, but neither could tell what was said. The guard then turned to Hinata.

"I'm going to need your name miss." Hinata nearly jumped in surprise at the man addressing her. She was so busy wondering what was going on, that she hadn't been paying attention.

"I-I'm Hinata Hyuuga." The guard nodded, and spoke into the walkie-talkie once again. He then turned his attention back to Naruto.

"Her pass is at Hakate's office. Once you get it, you're to finish up with the chrysanthemum timing." Naruto nodded, and grabbed Hinata's hand once again. He led the girl into the area.

They arrived at a small portable trailer, and Naruto began knocking on the door. After a minute of so, a man emerged from inside. His silver hair and masked appearance was somewhat strange to Hinata, but apparently not to Naruto.

"Ah, Naruto. You're back. You still haven't finished with the-"

"Yeah, yeah Kakashi. I'm about to go finish. Just give me the pass, and I'll get it done." Kakashi sighed, but produced something out of his pocket. Without further notice, he closed the door.

Naruto handed Hinata what Kakashi had given him. It was a small laminated piece of paper with a large 'S' on it, and her name below it. It was attached to a lanyard so Hinaa put it around her neck. Still unsure about what was going on, Hinata spoke.

"U-um, I'm sorry to ask Naruto, but where are we?" Hinata asked for the first time. She still wasn't sure exactly what was going on. Naruto loked surprised, but then he let out a nervous laugh.

"Oh, sorry about that. I get a little carried away sometimes." Hinata nodded and Naruto continued. "You see, I'm actually a member of the team that puts on the fireworks show every year. And since you really wanted to see it, I thought you might like to see it how the people who put it together do. It's not like anything you've ever experienced!"

Hinata let out a small "oh" before Naruto was again dragging her around the large parking lot. They waked among several people who Naruto greeted by name, although Hinata wasn't able to remember the names. The couple finally came to an area where a pink haired girl was aligning what looked to be fireworks along a fuse. She turned around as they approached, and scowled.

"Naruto! It's about time you got back. I haven't been mixing dangerous explosives for the last seventy-two hours for you to mess up the timing, and ruin everything. The computer program still shows the chrysanthemum going off at the wrong time. It'll ruin everything!" Naruto sighed, but walked up to the girl.

"Don't worry Sakura. I know what's wrong. I just needed some help from a friend of mine. And Kakashi wouldn't let him in, something about loosing 'Trade Secrets'. Besides, I've never ruined a show yet! You should trust me more!" Sakura let out a sigh and smiled.

"I know Naruto, but you're cutting it awfully close this time." Sakura looked past Naruto, suddenly realizing that Hinata was there. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were there. My name is Sakura. I assume you're here with Naruto?"

Hinata smiled, and nodded. "Y-yes. I'm Hinata." Sakura gave her a genuine smile, before turning back to what she was working on.

"It's nice to meet you Hinata. I'm sorry that I can't chat though. I need to finish this soon." With that, Naruto once again had Hinata's hand, and he was leading her to unknown places.

They finally arrived at a table where several computers were. Several extension chords led off in different direction. Nartuo pulled out a chair for Hinata. After she sat, he sat down in another chair, and began to work on one of the computers, talking the whole time.

"I'm actually the one who makes the fireworks go off at the right time. All of the fuses are hooked up to the computer, and I program when they go off. It's a lot easier, and safer that way." Naruto continued his work for another moment, before leaning back and sighing. "And it's done! Now we just have to sit back, relax, and watch the show!" He smiled at Hinata, and she smiled back.

They continued to talk until dusk approached. Every now and then, someone would need to speak to Naruto about the setup, but aside from that, the afternoon went by without disruption. When the fireflies began to appear, Naruto stood up, and once again held his hand out for Hinata to take. This time though, she didn't hesitate to take his hand.

"Come on. They don't need me around once the show starts; I just get everything ready. Let's go somewhere with a view!" Once again, he led Hinata by the hand, and they arrived at the small trailer where they had been earlier.

"Naruto, where are we going?" Hinata asked, unsure of what her newfound companion had planned. Naruto grinned at her before turning to the side of the trailer.

"Up." Was his only response. And with that, he took a running leap, and grabbed the edge of the trailer. He hoisted himself up onto the roof, and turned so he was looking down at Hinata. "You coming?" He asked, a bright smile on his face.

Though nervous, Hinata approached the side of the trailer. If she jumped, she could grab Naruto's outstretched hands, but she was unsure if she should try. Finally deciding that it would be better to try and look stupid than seem a coward, Hinata jumped up, her arms lifted for Naruto to grab. He quickly grabbed her wrists, and with a grunt, pulled her onto the roof.

The force of his pull caused Naruto to topple backwards, which also caused Hinata to fall forward onto Naruto. Once again they were extremely close, their noses almost touching as they had earlier that day. Almost instantly, Hinata had pulled back, a blush on her face again.

"I'm s-sorry Naruto. I didn't m-mean to fall on you like that!" She blurted out, not wanting to offend him. Naruto simply waved away her words, smiling the whole time.

"It's not a problem. Stuff happens." Hinata sighed, and sat down beside him.

"So when is the show going to start?" She asked, somewhat impatient now that the sun had finally fallen. Naruto checked his watch, and smirked.

"In about a minute. Do you want earplugs? It can get pretty loud around here once things get started." Hinata shook her head.

"No, I like the noise. It's calming." She gave Naruto a small smile, and looked over to where all the fireworks had been set up for the show. Naruto found it somewhat interesting that the once shy girl had opened up so much to him, and that she had abandoned her stutter, aside from when she had been very, very close to him. There was a sudden bang as the first of the fireworks shot into the sky. Hinata jumped at the noise, but as more began to go off, she didn't even flinch. She simply kept her eyes on the sky.

Naruto scooted closer to her, so that there was no room in between the two of them. As another bust of light flared in the sky, he spoke into her ear, just loud enough to be heard over the fireworks.

"That's one of the chrysanthemums that I had to get just right." A blue light filled the sky, and Naruto continued to speak. "That one is a diadem. And those coming from the ground are palms." He spoke into her ear the entire time, telling her what type of firewor was exploding in the sky. Every now and then, when he wasn't talking, Hinata would ask about a certain firework. Aside from that, she remained mostly silent for the duration of the show. The fireworks came to a crescendo, and Naruto was still speaking.

"This is the finale. We don't hold anything back." And he was right, at once, every firework that they had used all seemed to go off at once, but from where she sat, Hinata could tell that there was an organized elegance to it. The sparks flew in every direction, making for a beautiful last moment. With one final crack, the last of the glittering bits fell to the ground, and there was a silence like no other where deafening noise should have been.

The two sat in silence, allowing the moment to remain in their memories. With a sigh, Hinata broke the comfortable quiet that surrounded them.

"I should probably be heading home now Naruto. I had a wonderful time with you today." She smiled at Naruto, the genuine happiness clearly evidednt.

"I enjoyed it too. I guess we should probably get down from here then?" Naruto helped Hinata down by slowly lowering her by the wrists until she was a few feet from the ground. She let go, and landed without injury. Naruto followed, simply jumping off the roof to land beside her. He walked her to the exit, not having to lead her as he had before. Naruto turned to Hinata, who was about to leave the makeshift boundary surrounding the parking lot.

"Umm, Hinata, we're putting on another show in a week and a half a few towns over. Would you like to come?" Hinata's eyes brightened, and she smiled.

"I would love that Naruto!" The two stood staring at each other, not quite sure how to part ways. Again, it was Hinata who spoke. "I guess this is goodbye then…" Naruto's smile diminished slightly, but he still grinned.

"Yeah, see you later then?" Naruto sounded hopeful, but still seemed down.

"Of course." And with speed that surprised the two of them, Hinata placed a quick, chaste kiss on Naruto's cheek. Even in the darkness, Naruto could make out the deep blush on Hinata's face. She turned quickly, and walked away, not wanting to look back and embarrass herself further.

Naruto, for once, was stunned speechless. He was so surprised by Hinata's kiss that he stared dumbfounded as she walked away quickly. A figure emerged from the shadows, his dark hair and eyes making him seem almost one with the night.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Naruto turned to the other and frowned.

"Shut up Sasuke! You're just jealous that a beautiful girl likes me, and not you for once." Naruto pouted, almost forgetting that Hinata had kissed him.

"Did you even get her number, dead last?" Sasuke stated while crossing his arms. Naruto's eyes widened, and he turned to look for Hinata in the darkness.

"Oh no." He barely whispered, before running off into the darkness, searching frantically while screaming at the top of his lungs.

"HINATAAAAAAA!!"

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My entry for the Date Me contest for July. I really need some feedback people! The deadline is tomorrow, and I want to have it perfect before I submit it. If you have any questions, comments, or critiques, please feel free to review. You would be a great help, and I would ove you to bits!

Oh, and their ages are around 25 or so...


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